I can see it now. It’s late. You’ve been busily jotting down one note after the other while you brainstorm a particularly complex project. Suddenly you get the distinct impression that you’re being watched. Slowly your gaze slides across your desk. And there, emerging from your notepad, is the face of the most famous scientist in history.
The 3D Albert Einstein notepad, designed and sold by Pulp, an Israeli maker of fine stationery products, is an amazing example of what you can do with the right tools, the right paper, and a whole lot of imagination.
Using a Highcon Euclid III laser-cutter, Ilan Print cut paper-thin slices in about 500 sheets of uncoated 250 gsm (about 170 lb.) paper, which were glued in place on one end, all to craft this multi-layered sculpture.
“The ability of the digitally driven lasers to cut each sheet differently allowed us to produce the 3D effect,” explains Ilan Print’s Eran Friedman. “This variable data cutting can be used to produce different layers or, of course, personalized or customized cutting or etching designs on each product.”
The level of detail in this piece is absolutely stunning. Look closely and you can actually see every wave of hair and every facial contour. Yet, lift up the notepad paper 100 sheets at a time and you essentially lift away a fifth of Einstein’s face – the word “surreal” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
What truly makes this a work of genius, though, is the fact that it arrives looking like a solid paper memo pad. Thanks to some clever, intricate perforations, the 3D head and torso are only revealed, and gradually so, with every piece of paper you remove from the cube.
Imagine the joy of giving this to some unsuspecting friend and waiting for the moment when they realize that something truly unexpected lurks somewhere within. Believe it or not, this is just ONE of the paper sculptures created especially for this year’s Fresh Paint 10, Tel Aviv’s largest art fair.
